Filius dei is a classical dramatic feature of a tragic hero which means one favoured by the gods. One of the Aristotle's prescribed qualities of a tragic hero is being a filius dei while others are: primus inter pares, royalty/noble birth and hubris. In Othello, the eponymous character, Othello is a filius dei; he's favoured by the gods in the sense that only he escaped the captivity at Cyprus when they fought a battle there and as a result of that, he became a general. King Oedipus in Oedipus Rex is favoured by the gods; he was not killed at birth stool as planed; he was able to kill all king Laius' guards including the king himself, what an amazing thing to do! The gods also enabled him to solve the Sphinx riddles and he consequently became a king of the Athenians even as the stranger that he was.